Feinstein: 'We don't know' if Snowden had Russian help

1/19/14 11:10 AM EST

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein said Sunday that National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden may well have had help from the Russians, but “we don’t know at this stage.”

Appearing with the California Democrat on NBC's "Meet the Press," House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) said he believed Snowden likely received help from the Russians in collecting NSA data.

Feinstein said Snowden knew what he was doing all along, going into the agency with the intent to scrape up as much data as possible to use against the United States.

While the NSA’s data collection practices need a second look, Feinstein said the work is crucial to keeping people safe.

“I think we need to be prepared and do it in a way that respects people’s privacy rights,” she said. “When you look at what companies collect, it doesn’t seem to be a major problem at all.”